John McGahon (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I am not sure how many colleagues had the opportunity to watch "Prime Time" during the week. It was really quite harrowing to see what the family of Eden Heaslip has been put through over the last number of months. Bullying has existed for time immemorial, and it will continue to exist.When children were bullied previously, it would have ended at 4 p.m. when they went out the school gate. Of course, the feelings would have followed them home but the actual physical bullying would have ended at 4 p.m. Now, in the age of social media and modern technology, it follows children home, it follows them into their bedrooms, and it follows them into safe places where in general they would have felt safe. We can see that in Eden’s case, and it was put across very forcefully by his father, Raymond, and his mother, Maggie. It was one of the most heart-wrenching interviews I have watched in a very long time.

As to why I am raising it, this is something I am going to write to the Minister for Education about and I think this would be a very valuable idea if it was to happen. I genuinely think that programme should be shown in every classroom in this country as a deterrent and as a simple way of showing how horrific bullying is and what it inflicts, not only on other children but also on their wider families, and, in cases like Eden’s, what the worst-case scenario could be. If that segment of that episode of “Prime Time” with Maggie, Raymond and the family was shown in every primary school class and in particular every secondary school class, that would be a good way of hammering home the message of how bullying is such a horrific act to take part in.